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Thursday, April 16, 2015

It's Election Season. Out Come the Strawwomen.

Michael McCutcheon has written a piece over at mic.com called "9 Reasons Why America Should Never Have a Female President". Keeping to his well-trodden "X Reasons Why..." style of tongue-in-cheek, it's a pointedly sarcastic bit that acts as an unpaid endorsement for Hillary Clinton. Her thoughtful visage dominates the page:

The real purpose of the piece, of course, is to pass on the message that if you don't support Hillary Clinton, then you're a rabid, knuckle-dragging, atavistic sexist.

The problem with it is that it's simply... well, "useless" comes to mind. Because there is no broad audience that agrees with the "arguments" McCutcheon is lampooning. But remember, his audience isn't conservatives; it's liberal Democrats. He's telling liberals what they should think conservatives think, so they can go out and hate conservatives for thinking the things that McCutcheon told them about. I know it's a lot to wrap your head around. There's a reason they're known as "the loony Left".

Anyway, here's what he wants you to think conservatives think:

All female politicians care about is birth control, birth control and more birth control.

Women in Congress can't get money for their districts, pass a bill or really get anything done.

And most of all, America doesn't want more women in office.

As far back as the 1980s you'd have been hard pressed to find an American conservative who wasn't a fan of Margaret Thatcher, or who wouldn't have voted for her if they were English, or she an American. Carly Fiorina (herself a potential Republican candidate for president in the present) is one of those company CEOs talked about in point 2. Of course, HP was a bit better than a "Fortune 1000" company... or "Fortune 500"... or even "Fortune 100". They were ranked #9 during her tenure. And Fiorina herself was ranked the tenth most powerful woman in the world.

The women listed include my own governor, Nikki Haley, Republican. Of course, Susana Martinez of New Mexico also has an "R" after her name. It wasn't the liberal Democrats who voted either of them into office. So, two thirds of the female governors listed were Republicans. If we were inclined to look backwards slightly we'd find the former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, on that list of female Republican governors. That's the same Sarah Palin that was on the Republican ticket as V.P., who was roundly ridiculed by liberals for the very femininity that that conservatives are supposed to hate. Part of their ridicule hypocritically focused on her looks. Part of their ridicule focused on her supposed stupidity in foreign affairs. History has, however, proven her foresight to be somewhat more reliable that that of our "sooooper-genius" POTUS, Wile E. Coyote Barack Obama.

Conservatives couldn't give a rat's ass about a candidate's sex. Whether she's a woman isn't the question. The question is whether she's the right person. The plain fact of the matter is that conservatives aren't the sexists that liberals would pretend them to be, nor does liberalism erase sexism. Sexism is completely and totally part of the Democratic playbook when it targets anybody but a liberal Democrat. This piece of McCutcheon's is an example. Democrats, on the other hand, have no problem voting for someone simply because of their sex[*][**].

This piece argues with the invisible man. Since the people he's targeting know their own minds, such a tactic has zero potential to change anyone's opinion. And improper use of the "sex card" is so bloody obvious that the author makes himself look very, very stupid.

I'll leave you with this parody of Rick Perry in the "Brokeback Mountain Jacket", because McCutcheon somehow managed to miss "obsessed with fashion" in his strawman list, and as we all know, this sort of demeaning "attack" is only leveled at liberal women:

[*] I can't help but point out that the Gallup poll I linked to does not list "would be first female president" as the top response to the question of what would be the most positive thing about a Hillary Clinton presidency. No, the top answer was "Nothing" (at 27%) followed by "No opinion" (at 22%). "First female" was third, at 18%.[**] Of course, the ghost of Geraldine Ferraro spins in her grave at the chorus of "It's about time!" praises of Hillary Clinton. But that was 30 years ago... what do these kids know?